Schill Grounds Management taps 3 for senior leadership roles

Schill Grounds Management has promoted or hired three new senior leadership positions in the company.

Schill, which ranked No. 28 on Lawn & Landscape's Top 100 list last year, promoted Jono Fries to vice president of operations. He oversees optimization and standardization of processes, systems, and reporting to make them easier for employees to use.

Fries also helps guide the strategic vision and direction of the company, and has enhanced internal communications, peer-to-peer learning and meetings across the organization. A serial entrepreneur, Fries was formerly chief operating officer at Grasscor, which Schill acquired in 2023 to expand in Cincinnati. Earlier in his career, Fries was co-founder and chief operating officer of Boca Restaurant Group, and he founded hospitality design firm Hermitage Creative Group. 

Patrick Quinlan, a former panelist at Lawn & Landscape's Top 100 event, has been promoted to vice president of mergers & acquisitions. Quinlan joined Schill in 2022 as corporate development manager and was later elevated to director of mergers & acquisitions as he refined Schill’s strategy for prospect identification, due diligence, execution, integration and post-closing performance tracking. Prior to joining Schill, Quinlan spent five years in sell-side investment banking at VRA Partners.

Michael Palmer has joined Schill as vice president of marketing. He leads brand positioning, performance marketing, sales enablement and communications strategy to ensure cohesive messaging across all digital and traditional channels. Palmer was previously head of product & brand experience at Nerdy, executive director brand marketing at StrongArm, vice president of brand marketing at Everything But The House, co-founder and owner of experiential marketing concept Oggo, and marketing and creative director at Boca Restaurant Group.

“Jono, Patrick, and Palmer bring fresh thinking, creative and innovative ideas, and relentless passion for growing our business,” said Jerry Schill, who founded Schill Grounds Management more than 30 years ago. “Each of them will roll up their sleeves and get down into the trenches to find better ways to operate and execute. They are students of our business, and critical thinkers who enrich our outcomes and enhance our performance on a daily basis.”